Clock



June 10, 1952 G. R. SMYTH 2,600,081

CLOCK Filed Dec. 4, 1951 2 SHEETSP-SHEET 1 Patented June 10, 1952 CLOCK Gordon It. Smyth, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Haddon Products, Inc., a corporation of Illinois Application December 4, 1951, Serial No. 259,821

There have long been in existence clocks mounted in glass casings. Such clocks are usually heavy and expensive. The object of the present invention is to create a simple, novel, light and relatively inexpensive clock mechanism whose beauty is enhanced in a glass casing because of the impression of fragility and lightness received by the observer.

In carrying out my invention the motormechanism is housed in the base of the casing, so that the glass enclosed space contains no supports for the dial, hands and pendulum except rotary shafts rising from the base.

A subsidiary object of the present invention may therefore be said to be a novel clock mechanism wherein the hands and dial are supported entirely by the shafts that drive the hands.

A further subsidiary object of the invention is to produce a novel means for supporting and operating a clock pendulum device.

The various features of novelty whereby the present invention is characterized will hereinafter he pointed out with particularity in the claims, but for a full understanding of the invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the followin detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a clock, with its casing, embodying the present invention in a preferred form; Fig. 2 is a vertical section, on a larger scale and looking from the rear toward the front, through such clock, with all of the casing, except a fragment of the base, the dial and the hands, being omitted; Fig. 3 is a view looking down from line 33 of Fi 2, only fragments of the pendulum and base being shown; Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2, no part of the casing being shown; Figs. 5 and 6 are sections on lines 55 and 5-6 of Fig. 2, respectively, without showing the casing; Fig. '7 is a section, on a still larger scale, on line 'l-'i of Fig. 2, only a fragment of the clock mechanism being shown; and Fig. 8 is a section on line 88 of Fig. 2, on the same scale as Fig. I.

In the drawings, I represents a round base and 2 a conventional cylindrical glass dome mounted on the base and forming therewith clock casing. The base is hollow and has on the upper side a tall, slender, central hub 3. Within the base is a motor 4, preferably a conventional electric clock motor.

Extending up from the motor housing, through hub S, are two vertical shafts, 5 and 6, spaced about half an inch apart. Surrounding the 11 Claims. (Cl. 58-2) lower portions of these shafts are tubular shafts or sleeves, T and 8, respectively. Protruding through the top of the motor housing, ithin the base and near said shafts, is the output shaft 9 of the motor. On shaft 9 is a pinion I!) that meshes with a gear wheel H on shaft 5. Fixed to shaft 5, directly above gear wheel II, is a radial finger l2. On shaft 6, in the plane of finger I2, is a toothed wheel l4 provided with twelve teeth. Finger I2 is long enough to extend into the valleys between the teeth on wheel I l. Therefore, as shaft 5 rotates, finger l2 thereon turns shaft 6 through one revolution for each twelve revolutions of shaft 5. Shafts 5 and 5 turn in opposite directions as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 6.

On motor shaft 9, a short distance above pinion i0, is a gear wheel [5. This gear wheel meshes with a pinion IS on sleeve shaft 1. Also on shaft 1, above pinion I6, is a gear wheel I! which meshes with a like wheel l8 on sleeve shaft 8. Thus shafts l and 8 rotate at the same speed when the motor is running. Shafts 1 and 8 turn in opposite directions, each preferably in the same direction as the shaft with which it is in telescoped relation.

Set loosely on the upper ends of shafts 5 and 6 is a bracket or saddle Hi. This consists of a U-shaped plate 20 from the cross piece of which depend two short tubes 2| and 22 a little larger in diameter than shafts 5 and 6. These shafts are reduced in diameter toward the top, as shown at a in Fig. 8, to provide shoulders on which the body of the bracket rest while tubes 2| and 22 extend down around the unmutilated portions of the shafts. Fitted on the reduced sections of shafts 5 and c, above the cross piece of the U- shaped bracket, are worms 24 and 25, respectively.

Carried by bracket 19 are the telescoped spindles 25 and 21, respectively; spindle 21 being shorter than the other. Spindle 26 is journalled in the rear vertical wing 20 of bracket member 25, while spindle 2'! surrounds the for ward portion of spindle 26 and both protrude through the forward vertical wing 20 of memoer 25. These spindles are provided with the usual minute and hour hands, 26 and 2'! respectively.

Fixed to spindle 26, behind the rear end of spindle 27!, is a worm wheel 28, while a similar worm wheel 29 is fixed to or integral with tubular spindle 27. Wheel 28 meshes with worm 24 and wheel 29 meshes with worm 25. The

worms being alike, and the worm Wheels being alike, the spindles will turn at the same relative speeds as do shafts 5 and 6, the minute hand making twelve revolutions for each revolution of the hour hand.

The hands are in front of a dial 30 that may be of any size or shape and be composed of any desired material. When formed of molded plastic material it may be very light and yet be sturdy. To mount the dial, I provide the forward wing 28 of bracket member 20 with an externally screwthreaded hub 3i coaxial with the spindles and provide the dial with a central hole large enough to receive this hub. After the dial has been slipped onto the hub, it is clamped against the bracket element behind it by means of a nut 32 screwed onto the hub.

Associated with the sleeve shafts i and 8 is an oscillatory pendulum device. This includes an inverted cylindrical cup 34 embracing the upper ends of these shafts. In the arrangement shown, there is within the cup a bracket 35 with which the bottom Wall of the cup has a swivel connection CE. The bracket is provided with short tubular pieces 3?, 3'! which fit slidably on shafts 5 and 6 and rest upon the upper edge faces of sleeve shafts i and 8. The bottom wall of the cup contains two kidney-shaped openings 38, 38 symmetrically disposed with respect to the axis of the cup; shafts 5 and G passing through these openings and allowing the cup to swing back and forth through a limited angle.

On the inner sides of the cylindrical wall of cup 54 are two lugs, 35 and arranged in the same plane but spaced apart angularly of the cup axis. On shafts i and 8 are radial fingers ll and :32 that lie in the plane of the lugs. Since the axes of rotation of the fingers do not coincide with the axis of the cup, it follows that if the fingers are sufficiently long, each will strike each lug once during each revolution and slip off the same after Carrying it along a predetermined distance. Also, since the fingers rotate in opposite directions, one finger always drives the cup in the direction opposite to the movement which the other finger gives to the cup. By properly proportioning and setting the parts, only one finger at a time can be in engagement with a lug. The finger which at any given time is driving one lug also causes the other lug to move in the direction to meet the other finger; such meeting OCClllIlllg only after the first finger has released the lug with which it was engaged. Consequently the cup is oscillated regularly and smoothly in the manner of a conventional swinging pendulum.

Distributed around and fixed to cup 34 are depending wings or vanes 44 on the lower ends of which are hollow balls 45 in simulation of a conventional oscillatory pendulum. The cup, wings and balls all may be made of plastic material, so as to be very light and place little load on the motor while, at the same time, permitting attractive color schemes to be achieved.

The fingers 4i and 42 are shown as being ends of helical coils 45, Q6 surrounding sleeve shafts l and 8. These coils have an ornamental effect and, furthermore, if they are a snug fit on the shafts, they facilitate setting of the fingers to achieve the desired oscillatory cycle.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact details thus illustrated and described, but intend to cover all forms and arrangements that come within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a clock, a support, two parallel shafts rising from the support, motor-driven means below the support having driving connections with the shafts to rotate the same, a stationary dial mounted on the upper ends of the shafts, two spindles, one within the other, extending through said dial transversely to the plane of the shafts, minute and hour hands on the spindles in front of the dial, and driving connections between the shafts and the spindles to cause the hands to move as in a conventional clock.

2. In a clock, a support, two parallel shafts rising from the support, motor-driven means on the support having driving connections with the shafts to rotate the same in opposite directions and at different speeds, a stationary dial mounted on the upper ends of the shafts, two spin one within the other, extending through said dial transversely of the plane of and midway between the shafts, minute and hour hands on the spindlcs in front of the dial, and driving connections between the shafts and the spindles to cause the hands to move in the same direction in the conventional way.

3. In a clock, a base, two parallel shafts rising fro .1 the base, motor-driven means within the base having driving connections with the shafts to rotate the same, a stationary bracket mounted on the upper ends of the shafts, a dial secured to the bracket, two spindles, one within the 0th" supported by the bracket and extending through said dial at right angles to the plane of the dial, minute and hour hands on the spindles in front of the dial, and driving connections between the shafts and the spindles to cause the hands to move as in conventional clocks.

4. In a clock, a support, two parallel shafts rising from the support, sleeves loose on and surrounding the lower portions of the shafts, motoroperated means on the support to rotate shafts and also to rotate the sleeves at like speeds but in opposite directions, a dial, provided with hour and minute hands, supported on the upper ends of said shafts, driving means connecting salt shafts to said hands to operate the latter, an oscillatory pendulum device resting loosely on the upper ends of said sleeves, and cooperating means on the sleeves and the pendulum device to cause the latter to swing in one direction during a. predetermined angular movement of one sleeve and to swing in the other direction during a subse quent similar predetermined movement of other sleeve.

5. In a clock, a support, two parallel shafts rising from the support, sleeves loose on and surroundingthe lower portions of the shafts, motoroperated means on the support to rotate said shafts and also to rotate the sleeves at like speeds but in opposite directions, a dial supported on the upper ends of said shafts, two spindles, one within the other, extending through the dial at right angles to the lane of the dial, minute and hour hands on the spindles, driving means connecting said shafts to said spindles to operate the latter, an oscillatory pendulum device resting loosely on the upper ends of said sleeves, and cooperating means on the sleeves and the pendulum device to cause the latter to swing in one direction during a predetermined angular movement of one sleeve and to swing in the other direction during a subsequent similar predetermined movement of the other sleeve.

6. In a clock, a base, two parallel shafts rising from the base, sleeves loose on and surrounding the lower portions of the shafts, motor-operated means within the base to rotate said shafts and also to rotate the sleeves at like speeds but in opposite directions, a dial, provided with hour and minute hands, supported on the upper ends of said shafts, driving means connecting said shafts to said hands to operate the latter, an oscillatory pendulum device, including an inverted cup member that embraces both sleeves, restting loosely on the upper ends of said sleeves, each sleeve having at its upper end, within the cup member, a radial finger, and two lugs on the inside of said member in the path of said fingers, the parts being so proportioned that each finger engages the lugs, one after the other, to cause the pendulum device to swing in one direction during a predetermined angular movement of one sleeve and to swing in the other direction duringa subsequent similar predetermined movement of the other sleeve.

7. In a clock, a base, two parallel shafts rising from the base, a bracket forming a stationary bridge across and supported on the upper ends of the shafts and having bearings in which the shafts revolve, a hub on said bracket, a dial containing a central hole into which said hub fits, telescoped spindles extending through the hub, minute and hour hands on the spindles in front of the dial, and gearing between the shafts and the spindles to turn the spindles.

8. In a clock, a base, two parallel shafts rising from the base, a bracket forming a stationary bridge across and supported on the upper ends of the shafts and having bearings in which the shafts revolve, a hub on said bracket, a dial containing a central hole into which said hub fits, telescoped spindles extending through the hub, minute and hour hands on the spindles in front of the dial, worms on the shafts and Worm wheels on the spindles and meshing with the corresponding worms to turn the spindles.

9. In a clock, a base, two parallel vertical shafts rising from the base and rotatable at the same speed and in opposite directions, a pendulum device comprising a cup embracing and resting on the upper ends of said shafts, two lugs on the interior of and in spaced relation angularly of the cup, a radial finger on each of said shafts within the cup and in a plane intersecting said lugs being at right angles to the axes of said members, one finger engaging one of the lugs once during each revolution, for a predetermined part of such revolution, to rock the cup in one direction and the other finger engaging the other lug similarly to rock the cup in the opposite direction.

10. The clock as set forth in claim 9, wherein each of the fingers is mounted on a helical coil that surrounds and is a snug fit on the corresponding shaft.

11. In a clock, a support, two parallel vertical shaft members rising from the support and rotatable at the same speed and in opposite directions, a pendulum device comprising a cup embracing and resting on the upper ends of said members, two lugs on the interior of and in spaced relation angularly of the cup, a radial finger on each of said members within the cup and in a plane intersecting said lugs being at right angles to the axes of said members, one finger engaging one of the lugs during one half of each revolution, to rock the cup in one direc tion, and the other finger engaging the other lug similarly, after the first finger is clear of its lug, to rock the cup in the opposite direction.

GORDON R. SMYTH.

N 0 references cited. 

